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| The Negotiating Table |
Consider for example the fact that the US supports Iranian troops in Syria and Iraq fighting ISIS while it opposes Iran’s support of Syrian dictator Bashir Al-Assad. And it opposes the Iranian troops fighting along with the Shia Rebels in Yemen. All while negotiating a deal to curb Iran’s uranium enrichment program. As we approach tomorrow’s deadline and details about the negotiations leak out, it becomes clearer that Netanyahu’s prediction is right. This will be a bad deal. Just this morning it was reported that Iran wants to include as part of the deal the renewal of its enrichment program near the end of the 10 year moratorium.
It is shocking for me to see the United States negotiating a deal with a state that is responsible for spreading terrorism all over the Middle East. Starting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbolah in Lebanon… and now in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. A state whose Supreme religious leader continues to encourage cries of ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ by his people.
It is shocking that the Obama administration is willing to make a deal that will leave Iran with its nuclear enrichment infrastructure intact for the duration of the 10 year moratorium.
It is shocking that that the US seems to be willing to compromise on their insistence of complete access to all their nuclear facilitates in order to verify if the deal is being honored by them.
Lest anyone think that the so-called negotiations with Iran is only about preventing them from getting a weapon, think again. In my view the Obama administration wants a deal at any price. And in exchange they will be removing many of the sanctions that brought Iran to the table in the first place.
The hope of the Obama administration is that once Iran becomes a member of the family of civilized nations they will begin to act civilized. And my hope is that I will win the $50 million power-ball lottery without buying a ticket (I’m hoping to find a stray one in the street). The chances of either of those happening are about the same.
Yesterday on some of the Sunday Morning interview shows I heard many of the detractors and even defenders of the President questioning his actions here. To put it the way retired Lt. General Michael Flynn – former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency put it - it is as though the President is being willfully ignorant of the realities of the Middle East. (see below)
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have already lost confidence in the US as an ally. Not only are they all questioning the President, they are echoing Netanyahu’s words to congress a few weeks ago… fearing that the President’s rush to get a deal will produce a bad one. Nor are they waiting for the US to do anything about Yemen.
The President believes that he will have no foreign policy legacy unless he achieves some sort of deal. His failure to act in the hot-spots of the Middle East has brought chaos. The so-called Arab Spring has toppled once stable governments allowing radical Islam to gain footholds in many countries.
There are those who feel that the Middle Eastern Islamic radicals are not a direct threat to anyone outside of the immediate region. Tell that to the French or the Danes. Tell it to the victims of the Tsarnaev brothers. The danger exists everywhere. Appeasing Iran will only embolden them.
What is the alternative? As Netanyahu said the alternative to a bad deal is not war. The alternative to a bad deal - is a better deal! Instead of hurrying headlong into a bad deal, they ought to insist on dismantling all the nuclear facilities in Iran and to monitor it while it’s happening.
They way you accomplish that is by turning up the heat… and increasing the kind of punishing sanctions that brought them to the table in the first place. They need to be completely isolated from the world. And forbidden to trade with any country.They should be treated like the terror spreading nation they are. They need to be brought to their knees - begging the world to lift the sanctions for which they will pay the price we ask of them. No compromises.
And if that doesn’t work and they somehow go full speed ahead on creating a nuclear weapon – for which they already have delivery systems that can reach the Gulf States and Israel, then the US has to make a decision. Do they allow a terrorist state to do that? Or do they go to war to stop the evil.
In my view we have no choice – if it comes to it. Hopefully it won’t. But we have to be prepared. And although Obama has said that nothing is off the table, I doubt that he would follow through with boots on the ground under any circumstances. The Saudis know it. Egypt knows it. And I'm sure that Iran is counting on it.
Iran and other radical Islamists make no secret of their desire to spread their version of Islam across the globe. We know what Islamic radicals are capable of. There is no question that the US will win that war, albeit at a costly price. But the alternative is not acceptable. Because an unchecked radical Islam with nuclear capability will take over the world.